Mother's Day
by JennieJoy72
Summary: Amanda receives a Mother's Day present and learns to let go of the past.
1. Mother's Day

**Mother's Day**

The three adults climbing the stairs into the attic were as different as day and night. The oldest favored his father in looks and demeanor. He was a lawyer like his father only instead of saving the environment he was saving Politian's from their own worst habits. He was good at his job, he enjoyed it, and he loved the financial benefits that came with the job.

The middle child was more like their mother in the ways of kindness and nature. While his intelligence gained him multiple college acceptance letters, he chose a path no one ever thought he would enter. He lived the life of a traveling photojournalist. His job took him all over and he shared the best and the worst this world had ever seen.

The youngest took after her father in looks and attitude. She was the walking, taking, dimpled grinning female version of her older male counterpart. She did inherit one merit of saving grace from her mother and that was her ability to see things in a way others around her didn't. She could always find that one element others overlooked or choose to leave out.

"Why are we rooting around this dusty old attic?" Victoria asked her brothers.

Phillip turned to her and said, "Look, I know that mom never throws anything away. I just want to find a broken music box is all."

"Once again, why do we all have to be here? What is Mom going to do with a broken music box?"

"Mother's Day is only a couple of weeks away. I wanted to find the box, fix it, and give it to her as a Mother's Day present. I wanted Jamie to take before and after photos of it as part of the present. The only thing is Mom never throws anything away and I need help finding it."

"Where do you think it would be in all of this?" Jamie asked looking around the attic at all the boxes.

Victoria walked around looking at all the boxes and noticed how they were marked. "Mom is great at organizing. All the boxes are marked by year and what they pertain to. This should be an easy find if you know when she first had the music box."

Phillip looked at Jamie and asked, "Do you remember?"

"She was still dating Dean and it was right before we meet Alexi, so I am thinking late 1983 or so."

"Dean? Who's Dean?" Victoria had never heard of a Dean before.

"Dean was the first guy Mom dated after her and Dad divorced. Grandma kept trying to get Mom to marry him. He was a weather man at the Weather Bureau."

The three of them continued to search the attic looking at the boxes and the dates and information. Phillip was about to give up when Victoria said, "Fellas, here is a box marked IFF but it doesn't have any year on it. It's the only box without a year and it looks a hell of a lot larger than the other boxes."

"Vic that was where Mom and Lee said they worked before we found out what IFF really was. It wouldn't have files in it? It couldn't, most of that is still classified." Phillip explained.

"Well, only one way to find out." She pulled out a small pocket knife and slit the top of the box where it had been taped.

Opening the box all three felt like treasure hunters. They didn't know what they would find, but what they did surprised them all. The box was filled with photographs, journals, and other notable memorabilia.

"Hey, have either of you ever heard of Sandy Newcombe?" Victoria asked holding up an autograph football.

"No, Jamie, have you?" Phillip asked.

"I heard Mom and Lee joking about a Sandy Newcombe once while watching the Super Bowl."

Picking more items out of the box and setting them in front of her brothers Victoria picked up an older leather bound book. Opening the pages she began reading and then set the book aside turning from her brothers.

"What was that book Vic?"

"It was a journal that my grandmother was writing to Dad. It just seemed too personal to keep reading."

The three spent the next hour looking at the different items. They found a number of Opera tickets. They found an old photograph of a classic car.

"I know you know this car Phillip." Jamie said as he showed his brother the photo.

"Yeah, Lee had this car when he and Mom got together. It was a nice car, but only one person could ride with him in it at a time. Then he got the Corvette after this one. He kept the Corvette after you were born because he and Mom used it for work."

"He was dead set against getting a "family" car. He didn't mind having the family but the wild man inside him refused the "van plan" as he used to call it."

Laughing Victoria looked down seeing the smaller box at the bottom when she opened it she looked at Phillip and said, "Here is your music box."

Mother's Day arrived as Phillip and his fiancé were the first to arrive. Being one of DC's most renowned chefs, Carly, began to prepare a breakfast that Amanda declared, "Worthy of any breakfast my mother would have approved of."

Jamie and his girlfriend arrived just as it was time to set the table to eat. "Mom, happy Mother's Day." He gave her a beautiful bouquet of flowers with a note that read "To the World's best Grandma".

"Jamie, Ashlyn, congratulations. I am so happy for you." Amanda began to cry in the moment realizing that she was going to be a grandmother.

"Looks like you are going to be a Grandmother around Thanksgiving give or take." Ashlyn explained while Phillip and Carly were congratulating the father to be.

They were all gathered around the table and eating when Victoria showed up. "Sorry I'm late, Happy Mother's Day." She bent over to hug and kiss Amanda on the cheek. Taking her place at the table she glanced to the empty chair at the head of the table. It was always empty, no one ever sat in his seat, and chairs were just rearranged.

Amanda watched her daughter closely as she engaged with everyone. She laughed, joked, and cut up with her brothers. Congratulated Jamie on his impending fatherhood asking if that meant the baby was going to have a passport at six weeks or if Jamie was just going to come home and settle down.

"Babies don't travel well, I can attest to that from all of my travels. No, I actually got a job at the University in the photojournalism department and I will be starting in the fall as a professor. I have a few more assignments to cover before then."

"Wow, I never thought anything would get you to settle, no offense Ashlyn." Victoria exclaimed.

"None taken Vic, I never thought he would ever settle back here either, baby or not."

"Well, we have a lot to celebrate today; Jamie becoming a father, Phillip setting a wedding date, and being here together celebrating our terrific and loving mother."

"Here! Here! I will drink to that!" Phillip said raising his orange juice along with everyone else.

The day was filled with games and laughter and food. When it came time for Amanda to open her presents Jamie said, "Well, even though you already got your main present from us," handing her a small box, "I still wanted to get you this."

Amanda opened the box to find a Mother's Day ring with their birthstones along with her and Lee's names on the side.

"Jamie, this is lovely thank you." Amanda bent over and hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Phillip was next saying, "Okay, now this is kind of a two part gift and Jamie helped with part of it but it is all from me." He handed her the box that held the music box and picture.

"Phillip, where did you get this music box?"

"We went snooping through the attic at the house a couple of weeks ago. I knew you never through anything away and I always remembered that you had a music box that was broken and since it never was actually mailed then you must have still had it somewhere. Girl genius over there found the box and we found the music box then I had it fixed. They said they couldn't tell what song was originally played so I told them to put in a song you might like. I took a look at your play list on your phone and gave them some choices. I don't even know what they choose."

Amanda turned the winder and then tears filled her eyes as she heard the tune from Darlene Love's Today I Met the Boy I'm Going to Marry. She set the box down and hugged her son. It took her a few minutes to compose herself as she listened to the tune play fully.

"Mom, are you okay? Do you need to me to have them put a different song in?"

"Phillip, no this was the perfect song. That music box was how Lee and I met, so in reality the day I got that music box was the day I met the boy I was going to marry."

Victoria stood and walked outside after hearing her mother talk about the day she met her father. Everyone watched as Amanda stood and went after her.

"Victoria, Sweetheart, are you all right?" Amanda asked when she found her in the garden of roses.

"I will be. I just am having a hard time lately and I don't know why. I mean he has been gone for ten years. I mean I was sixteen when he, when he…" She couldn't go on.

"Do you think it matters how old you are when you lose a parent? I lost my Daddy when I was about your age. It doesn't get easier as the years go on. What do you miss most about him?"

"His laugh, it was deep and genuine. You knew that if he was laughing, really laughing, that he was relaxed and nothing was bothering him. I miss that he didn't see me graduate, I miss that he won't know this baby that we are about to have in the family, and most of all I miss his arms around me when I get scared."

"I miss all those things too and more. I miss fighting with him we had some really good fights. I miss teasing him about his cars and how women no matter where we went would flirt with him like I wasn't there. I miss looking in his eyes and having a conversation without saying one word. I miss that connection we had."

"Mom I know today is your day, I'm sorry for ruining it."

"Victoria, you didn't ruin anything." The two women looked up at the sound of Phillip's voice. "Jamie and I take for granted at times that we still have both our parents. When I asked you two to help me find the music box I didn't realize what all we would find. You see Mom and Lee had a very private life, even after he became a part of this family. Jamie and I were lucky to have your Dad in our life. Without him we wouldn't have you."

"We miss him too." Jamie said.

Amanda looked around her garden at her children and decided it was time for the mystery to come to light. Standing she said, "Tomorrow I want all of you to meet me at the house. I want to tell you the story of Scarecrow and Mrs. King."

TBC


	2. Amanda

**A/N: If any of you read my story Summer of '84, then you know where my character Victoria came from. I am writing this version of SMK from my own altered timeline of when Lee and Amanda got together. If you haven't read the story because it had an M rating, you won't be lost in this tale. I just needed the reader to know where I was taking my reference points from. I hope you continue to enjoy reading this tale.**

 **Mother's Day Chapter Two**

Amanda sat in her garden sipping her morning coffee thinking of what the day would bring when all of her children showed up to their home in Arlington. She hardly got any rest the night before. Victoria had her worried. She was beginning to remind her of Lee when they first met. Losing a parent is never easy, but Victoria never seemed to move on from it. If she was completely honest with herself none of them had. Lee's death placed a hole in their family much larger than Lee Stetson would have ever thought it would. In the last ten years she just hadn't figured if it was just him dying or the way he died that made it harder on all of them.

While the boys had been in their twenties, Lee's death still took a toll on them. Phillip went through a phase where cars, a fast life, and faster women were his normal typical day. Then he met Carly while she was studying at the University Culinary School. She was British, spunky, and refused to believe any of the lines he tried on her. That was five years ago. "Took them long enough, Stetson, I swear I never thought they would set a date to get married."

Jamie on the other hand internalized it all and showed his pain and grief in his work. His photographs of war torn countries and poverty stricken children and their families ironically helped him heal. Little by little you could see his healing through his assignments. Jamie met Ashlyn on assignment in London. She was an American just on holiday and Jamie walked up to her and said, "Can I take your picture?" That was it for him. He knew he had found the person he wanted to spend his life with. She was just traveling and so since she had no definite plans she traveled with him. "Now we are going to be grandparents, Lee can you believe it?"

Victoria came to mind and Amanda felt like Dotty, always asking if she was seeing someone. If she was did she think it would be something serious? Victoria would just smile and say, "Mom, I like being alone. There is nothing wrong with it." Victoria was very smart and as she completed her degree in Criminal Behavior Amanda was certain she was headed straight for Quantico to the FBI. Victoria applied the summer after graduation and began the following January. She saw cases that Amanda couldn't even fathom, working in the missing and exploited children division. Amanda knew that working in the FBI that her daughter's life would be nothing short of the same life as Lee and her own. Victoria was constantly in the line of fire and like her father, when Amanda first met him, she knew her daughter damned the consequences and fired ahead. Her only saving grace it seemed was that from what Amanda heard Victoria had a partner that pulled her out of those tight spots. "Lee she is your daughter in and out."

Finishing her coffee up she then went to go change her clothes she knew Victoria would be there any time to pick her up. Before heading down the hall Amanda stopped to look at the last family photograph that was taken of all of them. It was from Lee and Amanda's sixteenth wedding anniversary, their last. She took a minute and wound the music box Phillip had given her, listening to the sweet love song playing. "Oh, Lee, I wanted more time."

Amanda waited patiently at the house in Arlington for her three children to arrive. She was hoping that telling them the story of Lee and her time at the Agency that they might better understand his death and why they should not feel as much sorrow when they think of him.

Phillip and Jamie walked into the backyard first. Amanda smiled listening into their argument about the difference in their driving choices.

"Look here, Jamie, all I am saying that truck of yours is not a family truck. What are you going to do bring the baby home in the bed of that truck? A baby has to be facing backwards in the back."

"What in the Sam hill do you know about babies, other than dating woman for most of your life that was younger than my shoe size? Ashlyn has a very capable baby ready car. I am not getting rid of that truck; you don't know a damn thing about that truck. You weren't even with me or around when I bought it."

"Lee helped your brother pick it out and they fixed it up together. It was the biggest eyesore for months around here. I never thought the oil was going to get out of Lee's hands." Amanda gave her boys a kiss and sat down as she told them that she had ice tea and coffee if they wanted it in the house.

They both emerged from the house to sit with their mother and Phillip was saying, "What is so wrong with having a flashy car? I don't have kids, Carly and I don't want any, and I work hard for what I have."

Jamie rolled his eyes and countered his brother by saying, "It must be really hard protecting dirty old men and crooked Politian's."

"Jamie, that isn't fair. He has a right to defend anyone that pays his outrageous retainer and hourly fee and in Washington that isn't hard to find. You have to know all the good he does for the community as well. I am proud of both of you." Amanda stated.

"Mom, that almost sounds like you approve of what he does?" Victoria said as she entered the back yard joining her family.

"I am proud of all of you," looking them all in the eye one at a time, "even if I don't always agree with what you do in your life at times."

"Did Grandma approve of you and Lee working for the Agency?" Jamie asked.

"You are getting ahead of my reasoning for having you here. So, now that your sister is here and she has her coffee I will get started. Lee and I met in late 1983 at the train station. I was taking Dean to the station because it was supposed to rain. I was in a nightgown and overcoat and the next thing I know I was being pulled aside by a waiter telling he needed my help and that it was a matter of life or death. You know that little voice inside you that tells if something is right or wrong; well, something in his eyes told me he was telling the truth so I helped."

Amanda waited for questions but when none came she continued. "Lee and I didn't get along in the beginning of our work relationship. Even though he technically dragged me in that first time, it wasn't Lee that kept me there. Billy thought I would be an asset not only for the Agency as a civilian worker but also as a partner to Lee when possible to keep him more focused and less on the edge of death. Lee lost a partner about a year before meeting me and after that loss, he would be the first one in a firefight guns blazing, damning his own safety at all costs. Billy thought I would be a good balance to him because he knew that I had you two at home and he would have to think more clearly if I was around so I could get to come home to you. See as much as Lee hated admitting that he needed a partner he hated admitting that he needed me as that partner. In his mind along with a few others at the Agency what could a housewife do?"

"So, I guess you and Daddy weren't always moonlight and roses huh?" Victoria said marveling in this new light of her parents' relationship.

"No, we were more like oil and water. We didn't mix. He was night clubs and champagne and I was PTA and hot chocolate."

"When did that change Mom?" Phillip thought he knew when but he wanted her confirmation.

"In the summer of 84 when you and Jamie had left to go visit your grandparents and Mother went on a trip with one of her friends. By that time, Lee and I had found a rhythm working together. I had been broken up with Dean a few months and had gone on a few dates, but it seemed like whenever I was on a date I would be thinking about Lee or comparing them to Lee. I knew that my feelings for him had changed although I hadn't realized that his feelings had changed for me."

"Did he just come out and let you know?" Jamie asked.

Smiling at the memory of his caveman bedroom routines she said, "Yes, in his own way he let me know in no uncertain terms that I was what he wanted as much as I did him. Of course nothing goes smoothly with us, two days after we made this great choice to sink or swim as partners in and out of the office he was sent on an assignment in Europe. He was gone for six weeks. When he got back was when I found out that I was pregnant with your sister. After he met everyone, I have to say I didn't always make the best choices while I was carrying you. I kept him guessing at every turn. Poor Lee didn't know what to do with me if I wasn't eating I was trying to attack him at every turn. He even asked early on if I wanted Mother at least to know the true nature of our jobs and I told him I didn't want her to know until at least after the baby was born, she would have just worried too much and all I was doing was paper work in the office. I mean I wasn't even allowed to go pick up lunch orders without special permission. That was until the day after telling Lee that I didn't want mother to know, my pregnancy brain kicked in and I blurted it out to her anyway and she tore into Lee. He was blindsided. I wanted to tell him before she got a hold of him but that didn't happen and we had this huge fight because he called me stupid."

"What? I never heard Daddy say a mean thing to you!" Victoria about dropped her coffee cup at hearing about her father's treatment of her mother.

"Oh, Victoria, your father had a short fuse at times, especially where the Agency and I were connected. He understood that I was his partner but at the same time his need to protect me and ensure my safety sometimes would make him frustrated. As we worked more together and I started getting the training I needed things became better. We married on Valentines after you young lady made your early Christmas entrance. After we were married things at work improved. Things here improved. Things just got better. We were happy, yes we still would disagree on how to work the cases but we learned how to work together. That alone made our partnership at work and at home stronger."

"Why did he go to New York?" Victoria asked the question no one had asked in over ten years.

"He was there on Agency business. He was getting ready to retire and he had some New York cases that needed reviewed to be declassified. He said before he left that he didn't want to go because that would make his retirement all too real. It made him feel obsolete."

"Why? I thought Lee was excited to retire?" Phillip asked as he sat back down from getting some tea from the kitchen.

"A person like Lee never really wants to retire. I mean what does one do when over half your life you spend it saving the world so to speak."

"You avoid New York in the fall." The pain in Victoria's voice brought the subject Amanda was avoiding most to light.

"No one knew what that day was going to be like. Yes, all the agencies in DC and the world had rumors flying about. Rumors that this time panned out, but your father wasn't apart of those talks and operations, he was just there to declassify things. He came home from New York two days early, I never understood that, but it didn't matter in the end that he was here and not in New York. We were all shocked to find out that he was one of the victims at the Pentagon that day. He died that doing what he did any other day of the week, he saved lives before he died." Amanda tried to stop the tears but she couldn't.

Her husband had been at the Pentagon the morning of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He had helped many of the military personal as they found and guided victims out of the building. According to the Marine that was with Lee, he said he thought he heard someone else and went back in. He never came out and was found later in the building. He died of smoke inhalation. He died a hero like so many others that day. The four adults sat at the table in their backyard in silence each lost in their own thoughts and emotions of that day. Jamie was the first to break the tension and the silence. "Is that why you never sold the house?"

Smiling she laughed, "That is part of the reason I never sold the house. I tried living here after Lee died; all I saw was him everywhere, in the backyard with you kids, in the kitchen making dinner or Lee attempting to fix things that broke. After about three years of that, I couldn't do it any longer. I transferred the title into the names of you three and boxed up the life Lee and I had at the Agency. I only took certain souvenirs with me when I moved into the new place. The box you found upstairs holds a lot of our life together."

"I found a book that his mother wrote to him in." Victoria said.

"You should read it. Your father and I had been married a little over a year when we investigated into his parents deaths and cleared their names of treason."

"What was the deal with the football?" Jamie asked.

Smiling as she remembered that was the first time Lee had kissed her, albeit for a cover, but he kissed her. "That Jamie was a cover that Lee played. He was undercover as a football player named Sandy Newcombe and I was the reporter that was sent in to interview him. In reality he was gathering information and I was getting it back to the Agency. After it was over he stopped by the house one night and gave me the sign football."

"Okay, what about that goofy looking duck?" Phillip asked shaking his head.

"That duck was used to brainwash your dad into wanting to kill Billy. It didn't work obviously."

"Mom you have some very interesting pamphlets and button collection in that box too." Victoria pointed out.

"I do, don't I?" Amanda patted her daughter's hand before continuing. "I have brochures from the different hotels and cases we worked if possible. I have some from the Fox Run Hotel in DC where we were brother and sister looking to buy a Marvelous Marvin's, The Cumberland where we spent a lovely weekend as newlyweds, and I even think I have a post card from a cruise we took not long after we were married. The boxes up there belong to you three, they are marked as to whom they belong to, and it is up to you what you do with them."

"Mom what are we to do about the house?" Jamie asked.

"That my darlings are completely up to you three. It belongs to all of you, now I understand if one wants it more than the others or if none of you want it and sell it. That is like I said, up to you three. I wanted you to know that Lee loved all of you and you gave him the one thing he never thought he would have in this world and that was a family. He was proud of each and every one of you. Each of you has your own memories and moments with him. He is not here in the physical form, but he won't be forgotten if you all remember and know it is okay to talk about him. It is okay to be mad that he is gone. It is okay to miss him. Not one of you can ever miss him more than I do, but I have to let that go."

Amanda stood and said her goodbyes leaving her children to think and reflect about what she had told them. She didn't tell them the whole story, but she knew their curiosity would get the better of them and they would look more through the box from the Agency years and they know now that they can ask about it. She also took solace in the fact that after they were done exploring, she would finally be able to bring those memories home with her.


	3. Phillip

Mother's Day Chapter 3

The three of them sat in the backyard for over an hour after their Amanda had left them. Not one of them speaking or saying a word until Phillip stood up and said, "Well, nothing has to be settled today. I think I am just going to go home and get some work done." Jamie stood to shake his hand as he left but Phillip just pulled him in giving him a hug before leaning down and kissing his sister on the head.

Phillip pulled out of the driveway and headed for the park that was close to the house. He got out and went and sat on the benches watching the new neighborhood kids play ball. Some of these kids even belong to friends of his that he ran with when he was younger.

He thought of all the times as a teenager that Lee would bring him there so he could talk without his mom hearing in on guy things. His mind drifted to when he was fifteen and was getting really serious about this one girl, Suzy.

" _Come on, Chief, I am in the mood for some basketball why don't we go to the park for a while?" Lee asked when he noticed that Phillip was doing more day dreaming out the window than he was on his history report in front of him._

" _I have to finish this report on Munich. You know mom's rule, homework first."_

" _Yeah, well, since your Mom is in Munich right now she isn't gonna know if I let you work on it later tonight after dinner now is she?"_

 _Smiling at his step father Phillip went and changed his clothes then he and Lee walked to the park. After about an hour of hard hitting basketball and getting his ass kicked by Lee, Lee suggested they take a break._

" _So, your report on Munich when is it due?" Lee asked taking a large drink of water._

" _Not until next Thursday."_

" _I can see why you weren't really interested on working on it then today. I mean you have so much time left. I use to do the same thing. If I didn't like a project or report than I just wait and do it the night before. My Uncle wasn't happy, but I got done. I get it. What were you thinking about though if you don't mind me asking?"_

 _Looking away from Lee's gaze Phillip mumbled, "Nothing."_

" _Nothing, huh, well what is nothing's name?"_

 _Phillip snapped his head up meeting Lee's mischievous smile and said, "How did you know it was about a girl?"_

 _Lee waved his hands in front of his chest as if to say 'really'. "Phillip, I don't know if you realize this but I am a guy and I used to be a boy who at your age redefined breaking boundaries with the opposite sex. I started officially dating girls at thirteen, my Uncle thought it was fifteen, and at your age I was skinny dipping and rounding most if not all the bases, if you get my meaning. So, again, what is her name?"_

" _You were having sex at my age?" Phillip seemed shocked._

" _I was doing a lot of things at your age that I shouldn't have been doing. It was mainly to piss off the Colonel."_

" _What was it like?"_

" _What was what like?" Lee asked knowing the real question but wanting confirmation._

" _Sex, what is it like?"_

" _Well, that first time it wasn't so great. I mean how great can sex be if you have never done it? It is nothing like the movies and television."_

" _Lee are you going to tell me what it really is like or not?"_

" _It was crazy and fast and over really quickly. The first time for anyone is bad. You are trying to figure out if you're doing it right and the only thing you know is the two parts are supposed to fit together. Okay but what do you do after you get them together. I know your mom had this talk."_

" _She explained how the parts fit, but like you said after you get them together what happens?"_

" _Your body knows what to do, just the first time it gets really excited and does it too fast. Besides you have this voice in your head that tells you if it is time for you to do that or not. Being a virgin in college is not the worst thing that can happen to you." Lee said hoping Phillip got the message._

 _Phillip did get his meaning but made a joke any way, "No, being a virgin in college and having your frat brothers rat you out is the worst thing."_

 _Laughing hard Lee said, "Then I guess you don't let them know. Now do you want another game or are you ready to tackle dinner and Munich?"_

" _Dinner and Munich sound pretty good now; thanks Lee and not just for today but for every day."_

Phillip left the park and headed home. He was surprised to find Carly home when he got there. "Hey, I thought you had a dinner party at the restaurant to prep for?"

"I do, but I still have time. I wanted to know how you visit went with your Mom?"

Phillip sat and continued his thoughts in silence before Carly said, "Hey, are you in there? What are you thinking about?"

"I went by the park where Lee and I use to play ball. We had more talks there I think then we did games. He told me about his younger days and would give me advice. He gave me advice once with a girl. She was new and I thought she was wonderful. He told me to take it slow. I did and well she was a little faster than I was and moved on quickly."

"I guess that is good for me then." Carly laughed and snuggled into his arms not knowing what to expect because Phillip rarely talked about his step-father.

"I graduated high school, went to college, joined the fraternity, and met a great girl. She was more my speed. Unfortunately, our pace picked up but our safety precautions didn't and well she became pregnant. We made the choice together not to tell our parents and not to have the baby." The tears in his eyes began falling as did Carly's.

"I borrowed the money from Lee, not telling him what it was for, he didn't ask. He just said that if I needed it then it was no problem, he just thought it was extra money for Spring Break. The day we went to the clinic we were walking out and Lee was across the street at a diner meeting some man. He just stared at me as I Amber into the car. He had never looked at me that way before. Do you have any idea what he did when I came home that weekend?"

Shaking her head Carly pulled back to look at him. "What did he do?"

"Nothing, Lee never said a word and he must have never told mom because she has never said anything about it. The look of disappointment on his face was more than any words he could have ever said to me. I would have rather of had his anger and shouting than his silence."

"You two got past it didn't you?" Carly asked her brows closing together as her face scrunched.

"Yes, it took a long time but we did. I just wanted him and my parents to be proud of me. I thought by becoming a hot shot lawyer to the rich and deviant would do that. Carly, you know I have already made more money than most do in a lifetime, representing the men I have in my career. Would you be terribly upset if I changed the course of my legal focus?"

Smiling she said, "I thought that you understood that when I said I would marry your cheeky ass that I would also support you in whatever you do, just as you would support me. What new direction do you want to take?"

"I want to open my own practice. Something smaller, something that will in time be important and my name will not be linked to some of the past clients that I have represented and I can't bring in those clients at the firm I am in now. Am I being crazy?"

"No more crazier than I was when I left a great paying job to learn how to cook and now look at me, I have my own catering business and we are pretty successful. I want you doing what makes you happy and if your own firm and a smaller client base is what you want then go for it."

Phillip went to sleep that night for the first time in months without any cares or worries.


	4. Jamie

Mother's Day Chapter 4

Jamie left a few minutes after Phillip had after making sure Victoria was okay.

"I am fine. I think I will just clean up here and then head on out." She told her older brother.

Jamie went by his studio to find Ashlyn in the office doing paperwork. "I thought I would find you here."

"Where else would I be? You have a ton of invoices to send out for work you haven't been paid for yet." She leaned over the desk and planted a big kiss on him.

"Wow! What was that for?" Jamie asked.

"Disappointed?"

"Not in the least, just surprised. I haven't been able to touch you in weeks and now you give a kiss like that and it sends all kinds of signals through my head."

"I know I don't get it either, must be a pregnancy thing."

Jamie laughed at her statement after remembering his mother's words from earlier. "How is your appetite?"

"Crazy, I have already eaten like three times today and I am still hungry."

"Call mom, she might be able to help you with that. I want to talk to you about something."

Sitting in the chair across from her he looked at her face and all he could do was smile. That is what she did for him.

"I met Lee Stetson after mom was already pregnant with Victoria. He was tall and big and seemed nervous about us boys. He didn't have a father growing up after five, his parents died in a car crash and he lives with his uncle an Air Force Colonel. I thought he was great, but I didn't show it at first because I didn't want to get close to him and him leave like my Dad and Dean had."

Taking a deep breath he continued, "I overheard him talking about not being in the same house as Victoria when she would be growing up and all the things he would miss out on. I told him and my mom he didn't have to miss anything Lee could just move in and then if he missed something it was because he was at work, like any other parent."

Ashlyn sat in silence. Jamie had only ever talked about his step-father a hand full of times, usually after having a few too many drinks.

"He taught me everything I know about being a man. Phillip and Dad have a bigger connection and I am okay with that, we have our own relationship, but Lee, Lee was the one that taught me that it is not okay not to open doors for a lady. He taught me how to drive a stick shift before I was allowed to drive any other car. He told me the secrets to a good wine and taught me that Mozart was just as good as metal. When I went to buy my truck he was there from beginning to end. We took it to his friend Leatherneck to check it out."

"Leatherneck what kind of name is that?"

"I think it was a code name. He was ex-military and at the Agency he was the Quarter Master. Well, Leatherneck told us that the truck body was still in great shape, but the insides were only going to make it enough to get it back to the owner and maybe to our house from there. Lee made a deal that if it made it back to the owner and we bought it and it made it to the house he would help cover the cost of some of the repairs, as a loan. It made it to the house. I scoured every junk yard and looked up every car part store in the country. I found all the parts we needed. Lee put the parts that had to be ordered on his credit card and everything local I picked up on my own."

"That must have been on hell of a credit card bill."

"It was let me tell you. He showed it to me after all the charges went through and the bill came in. I had a job and every time I got paid, no matter how little or big the check was, I gave Lee half. He would take the money, put it in his pocket and just say thanks. Mom would just look at him as if he should give it back since I was making the effort. He would just smile at her."

"Oh I bet that made her mad." Ashlyn knew Amanda could get a temper.

"Sometimes, but Lee just tell her that I would not learn how to be responsible with my money if I thought I could just borrow that large of an amount and not pay it back. I told Mom that it is was fine; I was able to pay Lee back and still save money. After that she kind of just stayed out of it. A few times working on the car, we would get to a place where we needed more help and Leatherneck would come over and help out. Sometimes he would have to take it with him and bring it back because he didn't have the equipment to work on it there at the house."

"How long did it take?" Grabbing a candy bar from the desk drawer Ashlyn asked while tearing the wrapper open.

"It took Lee, Leatherneck, and I about a good seven months to complete the truck. All it came down to was getting the paint job done. I told Lee I would have to wait in getting it painted. He asked me why and then I explained that I had just paid off the parts on his card and had to save for the paint job. I told him it was no big deal; I could drive it and then get the paint later. The next weekend I went to go get in the truck to meet up with some friends and I reached into the glove compartment to put my wallet in there and found an envelope full of cash."

"I knew I liked that truck let's go see if the next insurance payment is in there." Ashlyn joked.

"Funny, my sweet monkey, I took the envelope in the house and I looked at Lee and asked what the hell the envelope was."

" _Looks like money for a paint job to me." Lee said not even looking at him._

" _This money is yours. I didn't pay it back just to borrow it again."_

" _You aren't being asked to pay anything back. You worked for that truck and on it. You put your blood, sweat, and a few cuss words into that truck. I wanted you to learn the lesson of repayment, you did that and more."_

"He never sent any of that money in to the credit card or even put it in the bank. He just placed it in the envelope all those times. He told me his intention all along was to give me back the money."

"Well, it seems that you learned more from him than just your camera skills. He taught you how to be the man you are. I can see why you hurt so long after he died."

"Did I ever tell you how he died?" Jamie asked her knowing that he was ready to finally share the greatest man he ever knew with her.

"I would love to hear the story if you're ready to tell me."

"Let's get out of here." Taking her hand Jamie spent the rest of the day telling Ashlyn all about the greatest man he ever knew.


	5. Victoria

Mother's Day Chapter 5

Victoria Stetson walked into her family home to begin cleaning the cups and plates from the day. After drying the dishes and putting them away, she walked around the empty house. It was the same as it was when she grew up. Family pictures still adorned the walls, books still lay along the bookshelves, and even their rooms were still as they left it when they moved out.

Climbing the stairs brought back a memory of her sliding down the narrow banister and busting her lip open. She had to have been no more than four at the time it happened. Her Dad was so mad at her. He tried to catch her and couldn't. Now that she thought more on the subject he must have been more frightened than mad. He could fight against terrorist and face a thousand bullets, but tears and blood from his family shook him to the core.

Stepping into her parent's room she was surprised to see clothes belonging to her mother still hanging in the closet. She pushed the clothes around and saw the wedding dress that her mother had shown her once. It was the one she wore when her mother married her father. His tux was there with it. She had seen pictures from the wedding. They were a beautiful couple.

Sitting on the bed she saw a photograph of her dad in a golden frame. He was on a boat and must not have known the picture was being taken. He was steering and the sun was setting behind him with pinks and purple hues in the back. His skin was sun kissed and golden, the blond showing in his hair from the summer exposure, and he was laughing. She missed that most about him.

Picking up the phone next to the bed she dialed a number, holding her breath until she heard the person answer. "I have no right to be asking anything of you, but I don't want to be alone right now and well, I need you. Can you meet me? Thanks see you soon." Victoria made sure all the windows and doors were locked before getting into her silver sports car and driving back into DC.

Walking up to his partner, Jackson Fletcher, stopped as he noticed she was doing something he had never seen her do. She was crying. If he knew anything about Victoria Stetson it was that she didn't take any crap from any one and most importantly she never cried.

"Vic, what's going on?" He asked cautiously first thinking that she was injured.

"It is my fault my father is dead, did you know that?" She said never taking her eyes off the building she was staring at.

"Vic, no, it isn't your fault. Come on, he died because of terrorism. You didn't take out the Pentagon." Jackson placed his arms around her from behind to hold her close to him as she cried. He stood holding her, whispering soothing words, feeling her pain and wishing he could take it from her.

She finally pulled from his embrace looking Jackson in the eyes and told him the last conversation she ever had with her father.

" _What do you mean you will be gone for two weeks to New York? You can't leave you promised me that you would go to my piano recital!" She yelled at her father all the way down the stairs into the kitchen as he began to make his coffee._

" _Look, if I could go at a different time I would but I have to finish this before my retirement. Do you think I want to miss your recital? I promise it is the last one I will ever miss. In a months' time, I will be here twenty four seven and you will be dying to get rid of me." Smiling his big dimpled grin at her didn't seem to deter her._

" _No! I come before that job of yours, I am more important, and I say that they can just send you whatever they need you to do and you can do it here. You cannot go!" She faced her father with all the looks and attitude of being his daughter. She had his eyes, her mother's nose, and his short temper; which at the moment was about to land her in hot water with her father._

" _Victoria Lee Stetson, I am not going to argue with you. I am going to New York, I will be back as soon as I can, and if you continue to act like a two year old that is not getting her way then I suggest you stop that now or I will not be the only Stetson in this house missing your piano recital. Is that understood?"_

" _I hate you! You have always let this job take precedence over me. I bet if it was Phillip or Jamie you would be right there cheering them on! I am so sorry that I am not the child you wanted!" She stormed from the kitchen and left her father standing there in complete and udder shock._

"He called me when he got to New York and Mom made me take the call. I never said a word, I just listened to him tell me that it was okay if I hated him because he was just going to keep on loving me no matter what I did or said to him, or in my case what I didn't say."

"Do you know how many parents and kids fought prior to those attacks? You aren't the only teenager that said that they hated their parent at some point. Parents know that kids say dumb things why do you think he called to tell you that he loved you in spite of that? He wanted you to know that you still mattered."

"I know how much I mattered. He came back early so he could go to my recital. I had stayed at a friend's house the night he came home. I didn't even know he was back. I got up and went to school. He went into DC to pick up some flowers for my recital and a new charm for my bracelet. While he was out he decided to stop by the Pentagon first, forty five minutes later he was dead. He never made it to get the flowers or the charm."

"How did you know about them?"

"Mom told me. I saw all of this on the news at school. No one could believe it. It seemed so unreal to watch the news coverage. I didn't know he was even home. I got home from school that day and Mom and the boys were at the table. I could tell they all had been crying. The first thing I asked was if Daddy was okay in New York. Mom just looked at me telling me that he wasn't in New York but that he had been at the Pentagon only she said she hadn't heard anything from him and he wasn't answering his phone. No one slept that night yet at the same time no one spoke. The later the day went without word from him the more we all came to realize that we weren't waiting for him to get home, we were waiting for someone to come and tell us he wasn't coming home. The next morning a Marine that Daddy help save came to bring us the news. He said it was an honor to know someone as heroic as my Dad."

Jackson held her tighter and continued to rock her in his arms. They stood looking at the Pentagon for what had to be at least twenty more minutes, neither one saying a word. Occasionally Jackson would kiss the top of her head or wipe away some of her tears. Finally he couldn't do it any longer.

"Victoria, Baby, you didn't kill your dad. You feel bad I get it because you said some pretty hateful things to him before he died, it happens. He came home to be with you. Honey, you didn't blow this building up. You said that a Marine came by and said your dad was a hero? How many other lives did he save? How else do you think that the Scarecrow would have died? He went down fighting to save others, the same thing he had done for all those years at the Agency. You have got to let this guilt go. Your last words to your father may have been said in anger but he knew his family loved him and if he thought for one moment that you wouldn't have survived without him, he would still be here."

Victoria looked at the man that for the last six years had put up with her at work. They had been partners from his first day. Jackson had been in the Marines right out of high school and already had a couple of tours under his belt. He always had a smart ass comment about something or the way she ran her opts at times. The last six months had been the hardest for her. She always felt an attraction to him, but she had kept him at arm's length until she needed a physical release and Jackson was always happy to help in that area. She finally admitted to herself that she was falling in love with him only to find out it seemed he had felt the same toward her.

"I want to apologize for this morning. I know that wasn't the reaction you were hoping for when you told me that you loved me. I never wanted to fall in love with anyone that is why I choose this career. In this type of career you have to keep your mind focused and your personal feelings separate. You can't get bogged down in emotions. I failed that too, Jackson I do love you very much. Will you ask me again?"

"Victoria Lee Stetson, you have made my life better than I ever thought I could imagine. I love you very much and have for a very long time. I waited telling you because you weren't ready, well, I'm telling you now and even if you aren't ready you need to know how I feel. Would you give me the honor of allowing me to be your husband for the rest of my life?"

"Yes, yes, a million times yes." She turned kissing him until he pulled away from her.

"What changed your mind?"

"My mother did. She told us today about her and Daddy. The more I listened to her and about their life together, the more I realized that if they could do it, so could we. I do know that we can still work the same division but we have to be on separate teams, so it may be difficult for a while until we get some kind of routine down, but I think we will be okay." He tilted his head back and laughed as she rambled. He loved her rambles.

"Slow down, Princess, we have plenty of time to let work know about this, I am more concerned with meeting your family. How are they going to react to you bringing someone home they have never met and tell them that you are marrying him?"

"They are going to love you, especially Mom; she is a sucker for a guy with dimples."


	6. Closure

**Closure**

Amanda sat in her home reading for the evening after the long day with her children. She felt lighter and free. She knew talking with the kids would help them in their own pain and begin to open and heal, but she never understood how deep her own healing was needed. She didn't realize how selfish she had been with her memories. She smiled as she recalled the phone calls from both Carly and Ashlyn thanking her for the day. Phillip and Jamie both went home finally able to confide in them the importance and impact Lee had made in their lives. Both women confided that it was the first time that either man had done more than give them a passing thought on their feelings for Lee. The thought made her smile that both of her men could now open up and feel comfortable with their feelings.

"Now see Lee they needed that. Now if only we could get that daughter of ours to heal." Amanda said.

"Maybe you don't have to wait so long." Victoria said walking into the living room from the kitchen, scaring Amanda.

"Damn, Victoria, don't do that. I never liked it when your father did that and I don't like it when you do…" Amanda stopped her rant when she saw that her daughter was not alone but with a very handsome man.

He stood about six feet tall with light hair and the bluest eyes Amanda had ever seen. He was muscular and when he smiled his dimples shown as bright as her late husband.

"Oh, hello, how are you? Who are you?" Amanda asked.

"Hello, Mrs. Stetson. My name is Jackson Fletcher." He held his hand out and waited for Amanda to accept it; he didn't wait long.

"Mom, Jackson is my partner. We've worked together for six years."

"I can imagine what that has been like for you, Mr. Fletcher." Amanda stated as she watched the two closely.

"Please call me Jack." It didn't go unnoticed as he held Victoria's hand.

After a few minutes Amanda broke the silence in the room, "Well, what bring you by and sneaking in on me?"

Victoria looked to Jackson and said, "Mom, Jackson and I have been seeing each other for a while. I tried to deny how I felt for him because I was afraid that with our jobs I would lose him. I have known for so long now that I loved him. That is what has been so upsetting. I have fought my feelings because I never wanted to love another man as much as I did Daddy. I never wanted to feel that kind of loss."

"Oh, Sweetheart, I am so sorry that you have had the hardest time healing."

"I am," looking toward Jackson, "this morning, the reason I was late, well, Jackson asked me to marry him and I panicked and I told him to go to hell."

Amanda sat listening to her daughter ramble like her yet at the same time sound so much like Lee.

"I really listened to you today. When I was done cleaning up afterward I went and walked around the house. I had so many memories of growing up there. The pictures were the same, you never took them here. The rooms still the same as we left them. You still have your wedding dress and Dad's tux in your closet in your room. It took me awhile to try and figure out why you didn't take him with you when you moved. You left him there along with all of us. You left our family in our house."

The tears were flowing down Amanda's face as she listened to Victoria explain without judgement in her voice, there was only an understanding. She did leave her family in that house.

"Victoria I want you to understand, I had to leave those things, but I still brought your Dad with me. He has never left me. I just needed to let you three know that you still had a safe place to return to if you ever needed to. That is why the house in all three of your names."

"I get that and I have a plan for that as well but I want you to know that I get what you were doing today. I decided that I would rather risk losing him than never having one minute of what you and Daddy had. I told Jackson I would marry him."

Amanda cheered with laughter and then out of the blue said, "See Stetson, I told you she was your daughter inside and out."

Jackson gave Victoria a side way glance as Victoria explained, "Oh, she talks to Dad all the time this is normal."

Three weeks later Victoria, Jackson, Phillip, Carly and Amanda all sat in the backyard of the house in Arlington waiting for Jamie and Ashlyn to arrive. When Amanda heard the truck she rolled her eyes and said, "I guess Ashlyn is getting as many trips in that thing while she can still get in and out of it."

"Hello, is anyone here?" Jamie asked as they came around the corner into the yard.

"All back here, Wormbrain."

"Don't call your brother Wormbrain, you bloody bull." Carly chastised him.

"I knew I liked you for a reason." Amanda said.

"Mom whose side are you on?" Phillip asked.

"What is this get together all about?" Jamie asked as he helped Ashlyn into her seat before sitting down next to her.

"Vic, do you want to tell him or do you want me to?" Phillip asked.

"I want to tell him it was after all my brilliant idea." Victoria announced.

"What was your brilliant idea and how much is it going to cost?" Jamie asked.

"I will ignore that thank you so very much. I went over to talk to Phillip the other day and we both agreed that since neither one of us is in the need for a larger living establishment that you and Ashlyn should have the house."

Victoria handed Jamie the deed and paper work that Phillip filed to list the house as legally owned by James King.

Ashlyn and Jamie looked from one to the other and then back at the title. "How is this possible? I didn't sign anything agreeing to it."

"As it turns out you don't have to unless you decide to sell the place, all this states is that Victoria and I give up our legal rights to the house and you as the sole owner on the title can now do as you please with the place. Like have a decent room for your kid to sleep in that doesn't double as a dark room. You have a built in tree house that you might need to make some minor repairs to. This place is perfect for you."

"Victoria, I would think you would want it given the fact that you are getting married here shortly."

"True, I did lay claim to the backyard for my wedding, but we can always move the wedding to Rock Creek Park. That was where Jackson suggested in the first place."

"No, you will still get married here, just like Jamie and I plan to do."

"Count us in on using this yard as well." Carly chimed in.

Amanda sat and listened as her three children and their intended spouses discussed whose wedding would be first. She smiled looking over at them and in the background she noticed a faint rainbow in the close distance.

"I love you too Sweetheart." She whispered to herself and then turned her attention back to the matters at hand.

The End


End file.
